Additional gay groups gain observer status at the United Nations

One of Europe's best-known gay rights organisations has been recommended for consultative status at the United Nations.

COC Netherlands, along with Spanish Federacion Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales, will be considered by ECOSOC at its meeting in July in New York.

ECOSOC, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, assists the General Assembly.

Both groups had been denied a recommendation at a January meeting of the Non-Government Organizations Committee ("NGO Committee"), a UN body of 19 member states from all regions whose responsibility includes evaluating NGO applications for consultative status.

In 2005, the largest worldwide gay rights federation, the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) began its ECOSOC campaign, an initiative aimed at allowing gay, bisexual, lesbian and trans human rights defenders to address the UN "in their own name."

This development has already allowed ILGA members to address the floor of the Human Rights Council (HRC) plenary, which prompted the High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour to state her support for LGBT rights in that international forum.

The positive recommendation for COC Netherlands came as a result of a vote called for by the United Kingdom in the last hour of the NGO Committee session last week.

Pushed by the International Lesbian and Gay Association, The Yogyakarta Principles also made their way into the NGO Committee’s session. Egypt asked COC to express their position in regards to the Yogyakarta Principles, which they introduced consider a "Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but only for homosexuals."